As occupied and ‘self-managed political-sociocultural spaces’ in Rome are material urban spaces, we consider the æsthetic experience of their ‘ambiance’ as a central factor of engagement, helping to build attachment to the place and to develop the desire to ‘make community’. Therefore, we analyse ambiances as spatialized dispositifs de sensibilisation, with a special interest in the degree of influence of the synesthetic process of ambiance – e.g. architecture, nature, smells, symbols, lighting, humidity, temperature, arrangement, attendance, etc. – on the choice to commit. We are also interested in existing feedback loops, understood as resulting from the fact that the perception of an ‘ambiance’ can lead activists to want to change it over time if it induces topophobia.